A new analysis published in Nurse Educator is drawing national attention to a long-standing structural issue in the nursing workforce: nurse educators—who are essential to training new nurses—continue to earn significantly less than their clinical counterparts.
The findings come from a study conducted by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany’s College of Integrated Health Sciences, using data from the 2022 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses.
Faculty Earn Less Despite Higher Education and Experience
According to the study, the average annual salary for nursing faculty was $81,617, compared with $90,435 for other full-time nurses nationwide.
After adjusting for demographic, educational, and professional characteristics—including annual hours worked—researchers found that nursing faculty earned:
These disparities persisted even though nursing faculty typically hold higher degrees and have more years of nursing experience than many clinical nurses.
The findings underscore a troubling reality: nurses who choose academic careers often do so at a significant financial disadvantage. This factor continues to strain the educational pipeline needed to prepare the next generation of nurses.
A Barrier to Fixing the Nursing Shortage
The pay gap is more than a compensation issue. It directly affects the nation’s ability to address the ongoing nursing shortage. Schools across the U.S. continue to report that the nursing faculty shortage limits their ability to expand enrollment, forcing them to turn away qualified applicants at a time when demand for nurses continues to grow.
“The data make it clear that compensation remains a significant barrier to building the nursing faculty workforce,” said David Armstrong, project director at the Center for Health Workforce Studies. “Nurses who are highly educated and experienced often have to accept a pay cut to teach the next generation. If we want to expand nursing program capacity and address workforce shortages, we must ensure that academic roles are financially competitive and professionally supported.”
What Researchers Recommend
To strengthen the nursing faculty pipeline, the study emphasizes that increasing pay—while critical—is only part of the solution. Researchers from the Center for Health Workforce Studies point to several coordinated strategies needed to support and retain nurse educators, including:
- Scholarships, loan repayment, and other financial incentives to attract nurses into academic roles
- Mentorship and structured support for new faculty
- Manageable, clearly aligned faculty workloads that allow educators to focus on their core responsibilities
